Writer, Artist & Colorist: Patrick Zircher
Letterers: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith
Editors: Chris Butera & Matt Murray
Cover Artists: Ivan Gil, Rafael Kayanan, Patch Zircher &
Nicola Scott
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 23, 2025
Life as one of Queen Elizabeth’s privateers clashed with
Solomon Kane’s conscience. So, the Puritan forsook his pay to fulfill a pledge
to a dying man. When riders from Naples block his way through the Passo Del
Furlo, Solomon Kane collects the lead ball he avoided from Paolo Laurenti's
flintlock.
Will Abramo Bensaid, a scholar at the Biblioteca Marciana in
Venice, welcome his brother-in-law's killer? And what's the story of the
abomination Father Goncallo’s student found near the San Mancos Mission in the
Kingdom of Ndongo? Let’s grab our flintlocks and rapiers, leap into Solomon
Kane: The Serpent Ring #2, and find out!
Story
When they return to the Ghetto Vecchio, Abramo and his
daughter discover a stranger in their home. The former Puritan privateer has
ridden hundreds of miles across Italy to reach them. As he feels guilty about
killing Paolo Laurenti, Solomon claims a dying shipwreck victim begged him to
bring the carved serpent's head to Venice. When Abramo and Diamanta mourn Paolo’s
passing, guilt stings Solomon more than the gunshot in his leg.
In Patrick Zircher’s story, the Knights of the Order of
Saint John summoned Abramo and his brother-in-law to Malta. Based on what
Abramo and Paolo discovered at the excavation site, Don Rolando Zarza funded an
expedition to the Kingdom of Ndongo. While Paolo traveled to the African
nation, Abramo worked in the Biblioteca and worried about his daughter. As
Jews, their options are limited. Yet Diamanta refuses to abandon her aging
father in the ghetto and pursue a better life in society.
Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring #2 unites Solomon Kane,
Abramo Bensaid, and his daughter Diamanta with Don Rolando Zarza and his
colleague Nico Cassani. Don Rolando Zarza wants to profit from what Paolo
discovered, and Paolo’s artifact holds the key to untold riches. Abramo wants
his daughter to get her share of whatever Paolo discovers. After taking
Diamanta's uncle from her, Solomon decides to protect the Jewish father and
daughter's interests from an avaricious Knight and a womanizing fop.
Art
Solomon Kane clothes himself in black and white from head to
toe. The only exceptions are the green sash that secures his flintlocks and the
red-stained bandage on his thigh. Abramo wears a gold jacket over his
pantaloons, sash, vest, and shirt. A cloth cap rests upon his head. Diamanta
wears a stylish purple dress and feathered hat. As the three confer, Rolando
Zarza bursts into the home wearing black and maroon. But Nico outdoes them all
in Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring #2, with his gleaming blonde hair and Van
Dyke, and an array of tailored green garments.
Diamanta will trade her dress for pants and a blouse when
she boards the Espirito. Yet when they reach Africa's Gold Coast, the
adventurers will see Portuguese soldiers escorting barely clad men chained
together. And Solomon Kane will feel another twinge of guilt, remembering how
he fought and killed the slaves on Paolo's ship.
Amid Patrick Zircher’s densely written story, highly
detailed art, and rich coloring, Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith share Jesuit
Father Concallo’s words as small, lowercase, italicized letters on scraps of
ivory parchment. Stately ivory letters in black boxes denote locations in this
story about secret societies and fabled lands.
Black uppercase letters in ivory boxes reveal Solomon Kane's
thoughts. Uppercase dialogue in white balloons grows bold for intonation,
enlarges for volume, and never shrinks. Sound effects accompany a relic’s
destruction and a tavern brawl, while a giant yellow scream echoes over the
Kingdom Of Ndongo in Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring #2. Thanks to Titan Comics
and Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Solomon Kane’s world is one in which nations engage in
economic warfare. Discrimination forces racial groups into ghettos. Rulers
value their citizens for the wealth they can generate. Christians and Muslims
fight while Protestants and Catholics squabble.
Amid this fractured world, a Puritan embarks with Jews and a
Knight Hospitaller on a voyage that will rival Christopher Columbus. The
adventurers seek not fabled lands or to benefit their monarchs but riches,
power, and relief from the guilt that plagues them in Solomon Kane: The Serpent
Ring #2.
Rating 9.8/10
To look inside see my preview of Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring #2.
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